Situational awareness refers to the degree of accuracy by which one's perception of his current environment mirrors reality. With regard to the operation of an aircraft, situational awareness relates to a pilot's perception of what is happening to the aircraft within the four dimensions of space and time. Situational awareness also relates to the pilot's comprehension of a present situation and a projection of the status of the aircraft into the near future.
During the operation of an aircraft, multiple operational parameters and systems must be monitored simultaneously, including the airspeed, attitude, engines, fuel management, navigation indicators, and weather radar. Many of these operational parameters and systems on the aircraft must be supervised by a pilot reacting to subtle changes in the alignment of needles on gauges or of pictorial displays on screens.
The present application claims new displays or presentations of aircraft data. The displays of the present invention employ commercially available systems that may be used without modification to supply the necessary signals to operate the displays of the present invention.
The present invention relates to improved displays of aircraft operation data that increase the situational awareness of a pilot and flight crew. More particularly, the displays of the present invention include an electronic display of a nonlinear scale emulating the view of a mechanical drum gauge. The nonlinear scale may be used for the display of aircraft flight data including airspeed, altitude, heading, and other aircraft data suitable for presentation on a nonlinear scale. The nonlinear scale may scroll to display current aircraft data. The nonlinear scale may center current aircraft data over a specific range of the scale. The nonlinear scale may display any typical unit related to the operation of an aircraft such as knots, meters, feet, miles, numbers, compass headings, and directional indicators. The nonlinear scale may be switchable between convertible units of measure such as feet and meters. The display of the present invention may include a window to show current aircraft data. The display of the current aircraft data may be enlarged, shown in a contrasting color, or shown on a specific background. The display of the present invention may include a pointer. The display of the present invention may have fixed upper or lower limits. The display of the present invention may have configurable upper or lower limits.
In addition to the features mentioned above, objects and advantages of the present invention will be readily apparent upon a reading of the following description.